by Dan Shanoff, USA TODAY Sports

(1) Unprecedented: They are the first 15-seed to make the Sweet 16, the detail that will be hammered into your brain by the end of the day (if not the end of last night).

(2) Unknown: George Mason and VCU had hype (or criticism) for being "last in"; NC State in '83 and Villanova in '85 came from "power conferneces." No pundit saw FGCU coming.

FGCU is an instant hysteria for our era of instant history: It took George Mason four rounds to become the national obsession that FGCU became in four days.

(3) Unafraid: What stands out most about FGCU is the moxie. They play like they believe they should be running the other team off the court -- regardless of the opponent. With most Cinderellas, you expect them to lose; with FGCU, you now expect them to win.

(4) A style of play any fan could love: Running, gunning, dunking, flinging, mugging.

(5) A style of play even stat-heads love: There are no more efficient shots in basketball than dunks/layups and 3-pointers. That is basically FGCU's entire playbook.

(6) Blank slate: They have no basketball history...until now. THIS is their history.

(7) Andy Enfield: Great coaching story or the greatest coaching story?

(8) Brett Comer: There have been plenty of great, memorable players on Cinderella teams -- none as must-see as Comer.

(His late-game, over-the-shoulder alley-oop thrown on Friday night instantly became the signature moment defining every upset and would-be Cinderella. It is the new standard.)

9) Bench players who do amusing, telegenic things, reminiscent of Arizona's "Gumbies" from the mid-1980s.

(10) The best college basketball nickname since "Phi Slamma Jamma": "Dunk City"

(11) Unpredictable: Less than a tenth of a percent of the 8 million-plus brackets submitted on ESPN.com had FGCU advancing to the Sweet 16.

(Put another way: 8,000 people picked FGCU to the Sweet 16. Sorry: 8,000 geniuses who should win a piece of your pool just for that, regardless of how FGCU finishes.)

(12) The most GIF-ready team in sports: I mean, the team manager guy dancing in the locker room...

And, as a bonus, they have already inspired their own obligatory tribute video:

(13) The awesomely awkward acronym shorthand of the school name: When said aloud ("FGCU!"), your response is almost to say "What did you just say to me?"

(14) Do you still hate LeBron and the Heat? FGCU has displaced Miami -- winners of 26 straight -- as the hottest team in the country.

(15) Perfect: As ESPN tweeted out last night, FGCU is still the only undefeated team in NCAA Tournament history.

(Getty)

(16) It doesn't matter if how far they advance from here: Regardless of which team wins the championship, no team from this tournament will be more memorable - and, arguably, no Cinderella has ever captured our imaginations like this one.

*****

More of today's winners:

-- "How's your bracket?" Go ahead and use this liberally.

-- Wichita State: Beating/exposing Gonzaga was the second-best thing that happened to the Shockers this weekend. The first? An in-person pep talk from Tim Tebow, obviously.

-- Oregon: The Ducks are in the Sweet 16 BECAUSE they were so-called "under-seeded," not DESPITE being under-seeded. It's an advantage to avoid the Top 3 seeds in your region and get a chance to play the 4-seed to go to the Sweet 16, as you do when you are a 12-seed.

-- Marquette: Their toughest game was Saturday night. And what a classic it was. As a new Big East rivalry, Marquette-Butler more than makes up for the end of Syracuse-Georgetown.

-- The Big Ten: Puts four in the Sweet 16. Given the close calls for presumptive Final Four favorites Indiana and Ohio State, we'll see how many from the league actually make it to Atlanta.

-- Mitch McGary: A heralded recruit, but not one of Michigan's stars, he plays like a big puppy, all slobber-knocking goodness. All of a sudden, is he Kansas' toughest match-up?

-- Marshall Henderson: Bounced from the tournament, but not from our imaginations.

-- Florida: After all the hand-wringing during the Gators' game with Minnesota, they still won by 14. (At this point, no team in the field is as difficult of a match-up for the Gators as FGCU.)

-- LeBron: Playing without Dwyane Wade, LeBron put up a near-triple-double (32 pts, 10 ast, 8 reb, plus 11/14 FG shooting) leading Miami to its 26th straight W. (And yet here's an upset: the Heat aren't even the hottest basketball team in the state of Florida.)

-- Baltimore Ravens: Swipe Elvis Dumervil from AFC rival Denver. The defending champs are now also the favorites to win the Super Bowl next season, too.